Recent Insect Activity
With fall quickly plummeting into the cold of winter, major insect hatches have also been on the decline.
Anglers will find most of their luck comes fishing weighted nymph patterns down deep as well as streamers swung slowly through deeper pools.
But there are still some flies active in the water, particularly on those unseasonably warm days.
As the water levels drop to more normal winter flows, expect sporadic hatches of small blue wing olives, fall (brown) and winter caddis (black), and the early black and brown stoneflies.
Unlike the spring mayfly hatches which happen late in the evening, caddis and stoneflies will be popping to the surface throughout the warmest part of the day. They naturally flutter and cause a commotion on the surface, so skittering your fly to mimic this behavior may work better than the traditional dead drift.
A killer combination for this time of year is an elk hair caddis dry fly in sizes 12 to 16, with a slightly small bead head caddis or stonefly nymph trailing 12 to 16 inches below (depending on water depth).
Blue wing olives, on the other hand, will more typically be seen in the mid- morning hours, rising slowly to the surface and drifting downstream as they dry their wings.
Unlike the caddis, which often draw frenzied, slashing strikes from trout, expect to see trout merely sipping these small, delicate flies from below.
Try a typically blue wing olive pattern in sizes 16 to 18 and if that doesn't work, try a cripple variation or a spent-wing style fly.
As always emerger patterns work great if the trout don't appear to be feeding on top, but are breaking the surface with their dorsal fins or tails.
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